Cover your tracks

Your privacy is the most important thing. If you do not want anyone to know that you have visited the chooselife www.suicide-prevention.org.uk website, please read the information below. It sets out the steps you can take to increase your privacy when using the internet.

Please remember that if you are concerned that someone is monitoring your internet usage, your safest option would be to access the internet from another place such as a friend's house, your work, an internet café or local library.

Covering your tracks

Every time you use the internet your internet browser saves pieces of information such as images, search terms or words used in search engines and login names.

This helps the pages you visit frequently load faster by loading the files from your hard disk drive instead of downloading the web page in full again. These are saved as 'cookies' and they can mark a trail or 'history' that reveals what you have been looking at online. Below are instructions on how to minimise the chances of someone finding out that you have visited this website.

Please note that there is a risk involved in removing data from your computer. Removing cookies may clear saved passwords for membership sites or online banking – and that may alert your friends and family to the fact that you have deleted information. Also, your friends and family may notice if the browser history on the computer has been cleared, and this may raise suspicion.

Take the following steps if you don’t want others to know that you have visited this site.

Find out what web browser you are using

If you are unsure what browser you are using click on ‘Help’ on the toolbar at the top of the browser screen. A drop down menu will appear. The last entry will say ‘About Internet Explorer’, ‘About Mozilla Firefox’, ‘About Safari’ or something similar. The entry refers to your browser type.

Once you know your browser type, you can follow the relevant instructions below.

Remove www.suicide-prevention.org.uk from your computer's history

On your keyboard press Ctrl + H together. The history of the websites that have been viewed will show in the browser window.

Locate the Suicide Prevention folder. Right click on the folder and choose ‘delete’

Clear ALL your browsing traces

Users also have the option of automatically deleting files each time they close the browser window by clicking the ‘Advanced’ tab and checking ‘Empty Temporary Internet Files when the browser is closed’ under the ‘Security’ section.

Mozilla Firefox users

Viewing History

To view your history:

Press Ctrl + H to open the left-side history bar or click ‘History’ at the top of the window.

Users with earlier versions of Mozilla Firefox can also view their history by:

Clicking ‘Go’

Then clicking ‘History’.

Deleting History

Mozilla Firefox users can delete their history by:

Clicking the ‘Tools’ menu

Selecting ‘Options’

Clicking the ‘Privacy’ button

Choosing ‘History’

Clicking the ‘Clear’ or ‘Clear Now’ button.

Clear ALL your browsing traces

Select ‘Tools’

Click on ‘Clear Private Data’

Check ALL boxes

Click ‘Clear private data now’.

Netscape users

Viewing History

Microsoft Windows users can view history by:

First opening Netscape

Clicking the ‘Edit’ menu

Selecting ‘Preferences’, followed by ‘History’

Viewing the location where Netscape is storing your files

Opening this folder within Explorer.

Deleting History

Netscape users can delete their history files by:

Clicking the ‘Edit’ menu

Choosing ‘Preferences’

Selecting ‘History’

Clicking the ‘Clear History’ button.

Opera users

Viewing History

Users can view their history files by:

Opening the cache folder within their opera folder

Microsoft Windows users can often find this within "C:\Program files\Opera\".

Deleting History

Opera users can delete their history by:

Clicking the ‘File’ menu

Choosing ‘Preferences’ followed by ‘History’

Clicking the ‘Empty now’ button.

In addition, users can check ‘Empty on exit’ if they wish for this task to occur each time they exit the browser.

Safari (often used on Apple Macs)

Resetting Safari clears the history, empties the cache, clears the Downloads window, and removes all cookies. It also removes any saved user names and passwords or other AutoFill data and clears Google/Yahoo search entries.

To do this:

Go to the Safari menu at top left hand screen

Choose ‘Reset Safari’

Click ‘Reset’.

Toolbars

Toolbars such as Google, AOL and Yahoo also record the search words you have typed into the search box. To remove all the search words you have typed in check the individual instructions for your toolbar.

For example, for the Google toolbar all you need to do is click on the Google icon, and choose ‘Clear Search History’.

E-mail

Reading your emails is also a way in which family and friends can see what you are doing. It’s important to remember the following:

If you do not use a password to log on to your computer, someone else will be able to access your email and track your internet usage. The safest way to find information on the internet would be at a local library, a friend's house, or at work.

Any email you have already sent will normally be saved in the folder marked ‘Sent’ items. Go to sent items and delete emails you don't want a person to see.

Sometimes an unfinished email will be saved in the folder marked ‘Drafts’. Go to the drafts folder to delete it.

If you reply to any email, the original message will probably be in the body of the message – delete the email if you don't want anyone to see your original message.

Remember to empty your ‘Deleted Items’ folder as all of your deleted items are stored there until you empty the folder and remove them completely.

If you have a shared email account, or your friends and family have access to your login or password details, you may wish to set up a new email account that you can keep private. Use a provider like Hotmail or Yahoo for an account you can access from anywhere, and use a name that is not recognisable as you.

For more information on how to delete history and cache from your computer, visit the Computer Hope website.